I have a 1993 Ford Probe (bought in CA) which always did wonderfully well on the emission testing, for 2 decades scoring 0.01 on the CO. However, 2 weeks ago it failed the emission testing for HC: 223 ppm (limit 220). The technician who did the test said just to drive it around and come back. However, I took it to a garage (2 places refused to check it out saying their computer only goes back to 1996). The person there checked it out and said he couldn't find any problem, except maybe that it is idling low. I am going to take it for another test after driving it on the interstate for maybe 30 min. Is it expected to help? What could be the problem? (it never had a problem with emission). The CO was also higher than ever before: 0.61 (limit: 1.2). Would a Ford garage could do something? Or would they say then can also only go back to 1996 models? I would appreciate any advice. They also said use the highest octane gasoline from Shell.

You could pull codes yourself with a paperclip in the TEN and GND pins inside the diagnosis connector near the underhood fusebox. Older mechanics will know better how to deal with obdi.
The check engine light, (cel) will flash out the codes with the key on.

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Thank you BLUEnoEQ for your reply. I do apologize, but I am not an expert at all, so have no idea how to do it, and what the TEN and GND pins inside the diagnosis connector near the underhood fusebox mean and how to find them. The car had the in-tailpipe emission testing, not through the OBD port. I also took the car the a mechanic who was recommended to me (apparently worked on Probes before), he was very nice, he said he checked the car over and found no problems (he did not charge anything). So I just do not know. It seems that 93 Probes' OBD is not recognized by today's diagnostic tools. I will take it for a repeat emission test on Friday, and after reading earlier posts on this blog, I will drive it for 20 min or so and hope do not have to wait a lot before the actual testing (so the engine would not cool down). I might just keep the engine idling while waiting in line. Hopefully that will be enough. I read about putting some alcohol into the tank, but I am very weary about doing that.
Thanking you

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